Surviving An Electrical Outage

Short Story by: texasjane

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How I survived the countywide electricl outage

Last Thursday I got a message on my phone machine from the electric company that they would be cutting power to everyone in Hawkins, Texas from Saturday night to Sunday morning sometime. Oh, dear. I better prepare... first... make a list.

The top of my list was to go to the hardware store to replace my flashlight which I could not find. I knew I would also need candles, batteries, etc.

Friday morning I went to the store to fill my list. The emergency announcement had gone out to every resident in town. I had decided I needed 8 flashlights to have one in each room. The hardware store had only 3 flashlights, the grocery store had only 2, and Dollar General was sold out of emergency supplies.

I had to drive to another town not too far away. I had almost all I needed but heard while in one store that there was a sale on bottled water and batteries at another store. I chased down all that I thought I would need but my trip had expanded to cover 4 towns not too far from each other but further East. I finally got myself set... I thought.

I got on the road and thought I was heading home. I decided I had gone the wrong way when I was saying Hello to Louisiana. I turned around and headed back after refilling my gas tank.

Directions were never my long suit. I was trying to follow what Google was telling me but it kept cutting out so I kept missing. I ended up in Arkansas. I turned around, refilled my gas tank. I decided I was going to follow any road-going West.

That worked I eventually recognized the name of an East Texas town. I was on the right track. I kept stropping and asking directions until I go to the highway I knew would take me home. I got in very late on Friday night.

Saturday morning another announcement was left on my answering machine about the outage that might be extended to last longer. Great, I thought. I decided I would cook up some food and have it ready so that when the power went out I could continue to function, eat, and take care of the house.

I was delighted to discover that my laptop would run even without electricity. I spent the day getting everything ready. I got flashlights laid out in each room. I got my reading materials set out next to the laptop so boredom would not get to me. I got the dogs set up with reflective things on their collars so I could see them in the dark if I needed to. I got my food cooked and ready.

I worked until nearly 8 PM getting everything ready. I then decided to watch a movie for as long as we had power. I was ready...

I woke up Sunday morning with the TV going and realized I had slept through the entire outage. I knew there had been one because my electric clock was flashing 12:00. I was so tired from getting ready... I fell asleep.

What did I do? I ate breakfast.. drank my coffee and thought about how much money I could have saved on gasoline if I had just bought the 5 flashlights and come home. I started laughing. I bet my mamma and my grandmother are laughing their heads off about right now. Mother was always getting lost and Grandmother was always telling her how to get home.

I patted the walls of my little house and whispered... Home Sweet Home. Thank you, Father... I could still be in Louisiana, the outage could have gone on for a long time. Thank you for helping me cook all this chicken... I won't have to cook for days now. What a blessed day today is after all.

Submitted: December 02, 2020

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